Global ship management that cares

COLUMBIA SHIP MANAGEMENT I PROFILE

Columbia Shipmanagement is a worldclass maritime service provider offering a global portfolio of management options. Phil Nicholls reports.

Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmana-gement (CSM) continues its programme of steady expansion into 2022. Established by Heinrich Schoeller in 1978, CSM’s portfolio of ship and management services grew rapidly. The company reached 50 ships under management in 1981, 100 in 1986 and currently has over 400 vessels under management, alongside more than 1,000 vessels on procurement contracts and 290 new building supervisions.

CSM has developed from its Limassol headquarters in Cyprus to running 13 management offices globally, overseeing 15 crewing agencies and over 15,000 employees worldwide. The extensive range of personnel and services allows CSM to offer a one-stopshop solution for ship management. CSM provides flexible packages of modular management services, fully customisable and tailor-made for each client. The company’s turnkey solutions guarantee cost-optimised operations and deliver the benefits obtained from economies of scale.

The highly experienced CSM personnel, both ashore and offshore, ensure 24/7 communication and efficient operation of the fleet in

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COLUMBIA SHIP MANAGEMENT I PROFILE

optimum conditions. The client’s business performance is CSM’s top priority. Ships under the company’s management are maintained to the highest standards, with condition and performance monitored through frequent inspections, sailing visits onboard as well as the implementation of enhanced reporting and quality management systems.

The CSM motto is ‘I care’, recognising the imperative of growing a strong company culture that its crews and clients can readily and willingly identify with and adopt. The corporate motto stands for: Commitment, Appreciation, Responsibility and Evidence.

These core values are the cornerstone of CSM’s company culture that each employee needs to understand, acknowledge and live by. A company which cares is a better company, better for its employees, better for its crews and better for its clients.

An example of CSM caring for staff was the recent partnership with Mental Health Support Solutions to deploy a team of 320 Ukrainian psychologists to offer counselling to refugees in the CSM ‘sanctuaries’ in Poland and Romania. The company raised $1.3 million and runs a Romanian hotel and two large Polish hostels as safe havens for families of seafarers as well as providing money for essentials and helping refugees navigate the asylum system.

New offices

Ship management does not stand idle. In March of this year, CSM Greece moved to new offices in Voula, a suburb of Athens close to the port of Piraeus. Lead by General Manager Gregory Spourdalakis, the new location will allow staff to promptly service CSM managed vessels in the area, as well as any clients and partners requiring support. The new Greek premises offer cost-effective and fully optimised support services expertly tailored to each client’s needs, delivering premium modular maritime solutions.

Mark O’Neil, CSM President and CEO welcomed the opening of a new office close to Piraeus, one of the most important ship owning locations. CSM anticipates working with existing and new clients to support their businesses and fleets. 2022 has also seen CSM sign a joint venture with Monaco-based Sea World Management (SWM) to expand CSM Group’s operations in the French, Italian and Monégasque markets. The resulting company is Columbia Seaworld Management, or CSM Monaco, blending SWM’s management experience with CSM’s integrated maritime services. CSM Monaco is posed to care for tankers, bulkers, containers, cruise vessels, super yachts, private jets and the asset management sector.

The CSM Group already has extensive experience in the leisure sector through the Columbia Blue arm, which united the super yacht and cruise sectors.

Columbia Blue offers a diverse portfolio of services within the leisure, lifestyle, cruise, super yacht, aviation and hospitality sectors. The company provides asset management, concierge, events and aircraft management services, providing clients with a 360° turnkey service solution of the highest quality.

A Saudi Arabian partnership

Another strand of CSM Group’s extensive portfolio is procurement services. To expand this business, CSM signed an agreement earlier this year with International Maritime Industries (IMI), the Middle East’s largest shipyard. Mr O’ Neil signed a memorandum of understanding with Dr Abdullah Al Ahmari, IMI CEO and Ahmed Al Saadi, IMI Chairman and Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President – Technical Services.

IMI is the largest integrated, full-service maritime yard in the MENA region, located at the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services in Ras Al-Khair on the east coast of Saud Arabia. The shipyard offers competitive, safe, high quality and on-time solutions to ship and rig customers from around the globe.

Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, CSM is confirmed as an official consultant for the shipyard in the fields of ‘sensorisation technology’ for vessel performance optimisation, engineering solutions, vessel design, and newbuild planning and supervision. CSM will actively promote IMI’s set-up and technical capabilities to the group’s existing clients.

Mr O’Neil emphasised that the agreement with IMI reaffirmed CSM’s commitment to the Middle East and Saudi Arabian markets.

The IMI shipyard is scheduled to become operational in 2022, with a focus on newbuilds and maintenance work for VLCCs, chemical tankers, bulkers and offshore support vessels.

Security and a greener future

Maintaining the security of CSM vessels is another way the group shows that it cares. Pursuant to the safety of vessels, CSM signed an anti-piracy security protocol with the MICA Centre operated by the French navy. The Voluntary Naval Cooperation Protocol bolsters the security of vessels sailing through the South China Sea, the Strait of Singapore Malacca, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden. The agreement also relates to ships calling on West African ports, along with those passing through the Gulf of Guinea or the Mediterranean.

The French Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness Centre is dedicated to global maritime security, based in Brest. MICA operates 24/7 to identify and analyse situations affecting maritime navigation throughout the world. The centre also provides ships and their owners with tailor-made security information about maritime risk, alerts in case of an incident, security assessments and specific briefings. It also provides direct support to the crews and shipowners in the event of a piracy alert by maintaining a direct link with the assaulted vessel, warning of ships in the vicinity and assisting to coordinate an intervention.

Demetris Chrysostomou, Managing Director of CSM for the Asia region and Group Business Development Director said signing the protocol enhanced the long-term safety of CSM ships and crews.

The sustainability credentials of CSM were recognised in the Reuters’ ‘Top 100 Innovators of Global Energy Transition’ list. The report recognised CSM’s joint efforts with TotalEnergies to develop a lube oil monitoring, optimisation and supply platform using the POCR system, while also investigating alternative propulsion and marine fuel systems.

Reuters noted that “the wholesale move to carbon-neutral energy systems, in less than three decades, is a task that demands almost undreamt-of levels of industrial creativity.”

As CSM continues its upward trajectory, it is clearly also a company that cares about the environment. n